In a machine room in a construction machine, an engine is installed and a cooling package is also installed adjacently to the engine. The size of the cooling package is increased to satisfy tightened regulations on exhaust gas discharged from the engine (enhanced cooling capability). Correspondingly, the size of an engine hood is increased which covers an upper opening of the machine room and which bulges upward and which is open at a lower side thereof. Thus, the engine hood is heavy, and more time and effort are needed for a service technician to open and close the engine hood for such as engine maintenance.
An engine hood configured as follows to deal with the above-described problem is known. The engine hood is laterally divided into two hood members each attached at a laterally outer lower edge portion thereof to an upper opening edge of the machine room via a hinge so that the hood members rotationally move laterally outward to open (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
In the divided engine hood, each of the hood members has a reduced size and a reduced weight, thus enabling a reduction in time and effort needed for the service technician in opening and closing the hood members.
[Patent Literature 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H8-254299
In the divided engine hood, when the right and left hood members are closed, the cutout edge portions of the hood members lie opposite and contact each other. However, no means is provided for fixing the cutout edge portions together, and thus, if the construction machine is subjected to intense vibration, the hood members may disadvantageously vibrate.
That is, when the hood members are closed, a lock member such as a latch which is provided at a front lower edge portion of the hood may be used to fix the front lower edge portion of the hood to the upper opening edge of the machine room. However, a rear lower edge portion of the hood fails to be fixed to the upper opening edge of the machine room via the lock member because a counterweight positioned behind the machine room becomes an obstacle to the fixation. The hood members with the cutout edge portion and the rear lower edge portion of the hood unfixed are likely to vibrate.
Furthermore, in order to reliably fix the hood members to suppress vibration, an attempt has been made to install, above the engine, a beam member that can receive leading end portions of the hood members at a lower side thereof and to fix the hood members to the beam member via bolts. However, such a beam member makes engine maintenance operations and the like difficult.